Weekend downpours scratch surface of big dry

Rainfall sweeps Mount Maunganui. Photo / Matt Dodd

Many would have felt the unfamiliar feeling of raindrops over the weekend with hopes the big dry gripping the region was over - yet this is far from the case.

Downpours, strong winds and thunderstorms swept the region on both Saturday and Sunday, however, the rainfall did not amount to much.

MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey said neither Rotorua nor Tauranga got more than 10mm of rain over the weekend, but "anything was welcome" for the dry region.

Tauranga felt some "brief relief" with 9.2mm of rain recorded. Rotorua got tickled with just 5mm in "two little bursts" on Saturday and Sunday, Glassey said.

Lightning strikes in Tauranga on Sunday afternoon. Photo / Olivia Lewis

The next week was looking to be dry and sunny with no significant rain expected.

A few showers may move through on Wednesday but they would be isolated, he said.

Nonetheless, Federated Farmers Bay of Plenty president Darryl Jensen said the rainfall "made a little bit of a difference" for farming folk.

It was a bit of a mixed bag with some getting close to 20mm, while others got just under 5mm, he said.

Hail fell in Whakamārama. Photo / Zena Crouch

"It did soften the soil a bit ... it's a start."

He said soft rain in small bursts was what they needed to "break the dry" as "horrendous downpours" would cause flooding, runoff and ground rotting.

"Now we need repeated follow-ups of this nature."

Jensen said the rain would have "lifted the morale" of some farmers, but it was still very "tough out there".

"If the dry weather continues, farmers will be back to square one quite quickly."